Tyreek Hill traffic tickets dismissed after officers fail to show

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Two traffic tickets issued to Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill in September were dismissed when responding officers failed to appear at a court hearing Monday.

Hill was stopped by Miami-Dade Police Officer Manuel Batista outside Hard Rock Stadium hours before the Dolphins’ regular season opener on September 8 for allegedly speeding and was cited for reckless driving and not wearing a seat belt. The incident went viral when Miami-Dade Police Officer Danny Torres was seen dragging Hill out of his vehicle and forcefully handcuffing him.

Torres’ behavior was captured on officers’ body cameras, and he was quickly assigned to administrative duties. An internal affairs investigation was opened, but no results have been released.

Attorneys Devon Jacob, Stephen Kelly, Jeffrey Neiman and Julius Collins released a statement on Hill’s behalf following the dismissal of his subpoenas.

“As expected, the citations against Tyreek Hill were dismissed. Police officers should not issue citations unless they are prepared to testify in court, under oath, about this matter,” they said. declared in the press release. “The absence of Officers Torres and Batista from court today demonstrates that they were aware of wrongdoing. These officers should be disciplined for their failure to appear. Mr. Hill had the right to have his day in court and the agents did not show up.

“We believe Officers Torres and Batista did not appear in court, so they could not be questioned under oath.”

Hill said in an article published Tuesday on X: “Where are all the Internet cops now.”

The Miami-Dade Police Department said it would issue a statement later Tuesday.

Hill previously admitted he didn’t handle the situation as well as he could have; while he initially complied with Batista’s order to roll down his window, Hill rolled his window up after asking Batista to issue him a ticket and continue with his day.

Hill said he had no ill will toward the police, but he called for Torres to be fired in September.

During the first incident, Hill’s teammates Jonnu Smith and Calais Campbell arrived on the scene to try to defuse the situation. Smith was eventually cited; Campbell was briefly detained but released without citation.

Hill has been at the center of numerous off-field incidents since joining the Dolphins in 2022, including a physical altercation with a Haulover Marina employee in June 2023 and a lawsuit alleging he broke an influencer’s leg social media earlier this year.

Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Hill is “a different human being” than when they first met, and Hill, 30, said he thinks he’s grown in recent years.

“It happened at the right time in my life because the way I matured, the way I dealt with my kids, my role as a father, all that, man,” Hill said in September. “The older I get, man, the more I realize how important it is for me to just be a pro. Obviously, when you first come into the league, you just want to have fun, do what you want. I want to do. But I’ve done all of that. I see now how important it is to be a father, to be a husband, to be a son and just to be the family man that my grandparents were. raised me, man.

“So that’s what McDaniel is talking about. When my teammates see me now, I’m with my wife, I’m with my kids. I’m enjoying life, man. I’m slowing down my life. I’m not doing things anymore crazy things I did when I came into the league now I carry myself with a lot of dignity in many ways.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.